High on Fire to Release ‘Electric Messiah’ Album

High on Fire frontman Matt Pike has confirmed that the band's eighth album will arrive sometime in September. Titled Electric Messiah, it will be their first LP since 2015's Lumniferous.

Speaking to DC Heavy Metal, Pike called the record "the best album we've ever done, by far. It's ridiculous. And I'm really proud of that." But he also admitted that some of the details are still being worked out.

"I think there’s 10 tracks, 11 tracks," he noted. "It depends, because there’s a bunch of songs -- like I wrote a Sumerian anunnaki rock opera that actually is two songs but they’re separate tracks. ... There’s tracks that don’t have names but, they’re there. It’s just one stream of High on Fire consciousness and it’s fucking good, that’s all. I’m really stoked on that record."

Electric Messiah will be the second record from PIke this year. His other band, the marijuana-friendly Sleep, emerged from a 15-year drought with The Sciences, which, perhaps not coincidentally, came out on April 20. Pike spoke of the differences between performing with High on Fire, which he leads, and Sleep, where he only plays guitar.

"It’s so different and so the same," he said. "It’s weird, but the common link between High on Fire and Sleep is obviously my guitar playing. I like having my own voice and being able to sing my lyrics. High on Fire is my baby like that. But Sleep, definitely, I am a third of that thing’s heart, and I get to express myself in different ways that I don’t get to in High on Fire. It’s very visceral. It’s super tight and visceral and very detailed, but it has its own soul and I can do different things."